Getting ready to go!

Hello All,

I'm getting ready to go to Italy for 2 months, October 14 through December 13.  I've got all my lodgings reserved (all from Airbnb).  I'll be going to:

CityDate# days
Milano10/15/20194
Padova10/19/20194
Treviso/Venezia10/23/20197
Bergamo10/30/20197
Bologna11/6/20195
Firenze11/11/20197
Siena11/18/20195
Montalcino11/23/20194
Lucca11/27/20195
Alba12/2/20197
Milano12/9/20194
Return12/13/2019


As usual, I'll be following the food and wine in each region with a side of art.

This trip I discovered Amazon sell European SIMs.  In the past, you had to get into the country you were visiting, go to a mobile service provider store (e.g., last trip I used Vodafone and Telcom Italia), wait in line for quite a while, and finally buy the SIM.  In some cases these SIMs would work within an hour or two, in others it might take a day before they would work.  And these pre-paid SIMs would only work in the country you bought them in with the provider you bought it from (I got two different carriers because I was going to be in Sicily for about a month and on that island, Vodafone works in some places and Telcom Italia in others--having both meant I always had access to Google maps).  Since that trip, Europe's laws/regulations have changed to require free roaming among the EU countries, when using an EU-based SIM/provider.

This trip I was able to buy the SIMS before leaving the USA (they don't work until you get there, of course).  I again bought two, one for my iPhone and for my iPad.

For the phone, I got Orange Holiday Europe – 10GB Internet Data in 4G/LTE (+10GB Additional for SIMS Activated from April 4TH) + 120 mn + 1000 Texts in 30 Countries in Europe.  The initial charge is good for 14 days, and that it will allow you to roam among 30 European countries (e.g., I'll be in Germany on the way home via Lufthansa and it should work there).  I'll have to recharge it to extend to 60 days, but that's usual (and you can use any international credit card to recharge--last time the recharges required an EU credit card, or buy a scratch card at a shop).  Note also that if you use a SIM more than 30 days, you need to register the SIM by sending in a copy of your passport and filling out a form (both can done via their website--in the past this was done at the provider's store).  The downside is that Orange provides only French phone numbers, mais, c'est la vie!

For the iPad, I got a "dataroam Prepaid 4G Europe Data SIM Card - Europe 8GB Bundle - 36 Countries."  Similar to Orange, but data only, no voice or SMS.  The initial credit is good for 60 days, perfect for my trip.  And data only service is cheaper than including voice and SMS.  For some reason, it says there is no registration required for this SIM to use it the whole 60 days.  It cannot be recharged.

Finally it seems getting an EU SIM is becoming easier.  And much cheaper than using my AT&T service in roaming mode in Europe--$60 or $120 per month for 1 or 3GB respectively.  Both of the SIMs I'm getting allow hotspotting/tethering and have access to LTE/4G networks.  We'll see how well they work once I'm there!

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